This Week in Psychedelics - 9.7.18

Cannabis

• Psychosis: Cannabis extract normalizes brain function (Medical News Today)

• A silent movement for the legalisation of cannabis is spreading across India (Scroll.in)

• Using Cannabis to Treat the Effects of Trauma (Chacruna)

• Senate Bill Would Legalize Medical Marijuana For Military Veterans (Forbes)

• Elon Musk Smokes Marijuana in His First Appearance Since Tweet About Taking Tesla Public (TIME)

• How dark market cannabis plugs are being taken advantage of. Again. (Rooster Magazine)

• Senators Press Trump Cabinet Members To Expand Marijuana Research (Marijuana Moment)

• Utah Medical Marijuana Campaign Exposes Opponents’ Misleading Push Poll (Marijuana Moment)

• Stockton Offering Minor In Cannabis Studies (CBS Philly)

• Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh On Marijuana Enforcement And Presidential Pardon Power (Marijuana Moment)

• The Argument For Smoking Cannabis Flower (Forbes)

• Major Pro-Legalization California Union Sides With Cops Against Marijuana Deliveries (Marijuana Moment)

• Nerve Pain in the Legs? Medical Marijuana May Alter Brain Connections, Bring Relief (American Academy of Neurology)

• Top Lawmakers Talk Hemp Legalization At First Bicameral Congressional Conference Committee Meeting (Marijuana Moment)

• Individual and combined effects of acute delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on psychotomimetic symptoms and memory function (Nature)

• How Many Americans Can Hold A Joint Of Marijuana Without Fear Of Going To Jail? (Marijuana Moment)

• Support for Prop. 2 dips following LDS Church opposition, but most Utahns still support medical cannabis ballot initiative (Utah Policy)

• New Jersey Mayors Demand Social Equity In Marijuana Legalization Bill (Marijuana Moment)

• Death Sentence for Malaysia Man Who Gave Patients Free Cannabis Oil (Talking Drugs)

• Marijuana Consumption Booming Among Baby Boomers, Study Finds (Marijuana Moment)

• Pro-Legalization Trump Backers Cry ‘Fake News’ Over Report On Anti-Marijuana Committee (Marijuana Moment)

• Tobacco Giant Altria Is ‘Exploring Options’ On Marijuana (Marijuana Moment)

• Anti-Legalization Rep. Pete Sessions ‘Very Receptive’ To Medical Cannabis Group (Marijuana Moment)

• Canadian Cannabis Corp Makes Historic Investment in Jamaica (Forbes)

• A Top House Republican Questions Jeff Sessions’s Anti-Marijuana Moves (Marijuana Moment)

• Cannabis on the Menu at Your Next Hotel Restaurant or Spa? (The New York Times)

• XRAY's “This Is Cannabis” Discusses the Science of Weed In Terms Everyone Can Understand (Willamette Week)

LSD

• First ever trials on the effects of microdosing LSD set to begin (The Guardian)

• Does Microdosing LSD Stimulate Creativity And Productivity? (Science Trends)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Parents hope mushrooms work magic on depression (The Times)

• FDA Approved A Psilocybin Drug Trial For Depression (NowThis News)

• Series to investigate lore of ‘magic mushrooms’ (Stillwater News Press)

• Gardai uncover first ever 'magic mushroom lab' in Ireland following raid (Irish Independent)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• The Differences Between British and American MDMA Users (VICE)

Ayahuasca/DMT/5-MeO-DMT

• Paul McCartney 'saw God' after taking drugs during Beatles heyday (The Guardian)

• This Incredible VR Film Takes You on an Ayahuasca Journey to the Amazon (VICE)

• What Ayahuasca Is, and What You Should Know About It (Teen Vogue)

• What Happens When You Die? Scientists Have Recreated a Near Death Experience to Find Out What It Feels Like (Newsweek)

• Ayahuasca rituals can be profoundly beneficial – if they’re done properly (The Guardian)

• Ayahuasca and the Global Marketplace (Psymposia)

• I spent two days taking the spiritual psychoactive ‘Ayahuasca’ on a reclusive island (The Tab)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• DEA puts "Fake MDMA" in Schedule I (Orlando Sentinel)

• Meet Dr. Zee, the Chemist Trying to Solve Life’s Problems With One Pill (MERRY JANE)

Dissociatives

• First-Ever IV Ketamine Infusion Consensus Guidelines For Chronic Pain Released (Pain Medicine News)

• Study: Ketamine acts like an opioid when used to help treat depression (Boston Herald)

• Man high on PCP gets shot trying to carjack man in Cleveland pizzeria parking lot (Cleveland.com)

• Officers, K9 exposed to drug while checking vehicle outside military site: police (PennLive.com)

• Woman arrested on murder complaint tells police man found dead in motel smoked PCP and killed himself (Tulsa World)

Opiates/Opioids

• Purdue Pharma L.P. to Fund Harm Reduction Therapeutics, Inc.’s Work to Develop Inexpensive, Over-the-Counter, Life-Saving Naloxone in the United States (Business Wire)

• New Research Sheds Light on How Opium Poppies Evolved Their Powerful Painkillers (Gizmodo)

• Sick River: Can These California Tribes Beat Heroin and History? (The New York Times)

• I Would Have Started Heroin Recovery Earlier—and Healthier—If I Had Access to a Safe Injection Site (Tonic)

• Officers in Sterling treated for opioid exposure after responding to overdose (The Boston Globe)

• Supervised Injection Facilities Save Lives (Reason)

• Man Who Kicked Heroin Addiction Now On Mission To Give Back To Local Kids (CBS Philly)

• Naloxone: ‘It’s harm reduction’ (LaSalle News Tribune)

Kratom

• Lawsuit says kratom tea caused teen’s brain damage (Tampa Bay Times)

• Kratom Users Reveal Psychological Symptoms of Withdrawal From the Drug (Inverse)

• Kratom: Clinical Implications for Nurse Practitioners (AdvanceWeb)

Kava

• Vanuatu welcomes Polish move to re-legalise kava (Radio New Zealand)

• Man arrested for stabbing employees at Te Mana Kava Bar in West Palm Beach (WPTV)

• No Harm in Kava (Eugene Weekly)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Misreporting and Confirmation Bias in Psychedelic Research (Scientific American)

• Addiction Doesn’t Always Last a Lifetime (The New York Times)

• An Introduction to Eroto-Psychedelic Art (The Oak Tree Review)

• Psychedelics, Meditation, and Self-Consciousness (Frontiers in Psychology)

• This Man Took 140 Drugs and Wrote a Harm Reduction Bible (VICE)

• Abolishing the DEA Would be Good for Your Health (71Republic)

• Do psychotropic drugs enhance, or diminish, human agency? (Aeon)

• Sound-based liquid printing could lead to new designer drugs (Engadget)

• People Say Microdosing Can Increase Cognitive Ability And Regulate Emotions. Here's What We Know About It (BuzzFeed News)

• What is a Drug? (Medium)

• The Psychedelic Film And Music Festival Embarks On Inaugural Event This October In NYC (Broadway World)

• How to Prevent Overdose Deaths—and How Not To (Reason)

• Thousands of people use drug-testing facilities at UK music festivals (BBC)

• The Internet Is Acid, and America Is Having a Bad Trip (Medium)

• Unlocking the Shamanic Perspective for a Profoundly Magical Existence (High Existence)

• Psychedelics Improve Physical Performance (Andrew Joseph)

• 4 Plant-Based Alternative Medicines That Show Promise in Treating Addiction (ZME Science)

• How psychedelic drugs are tackling mental illness (news.com.au)

• The Prohibition of Psychedelics Burdens the Most Fundamental Right in the Grossest Way Possible (Andrew Joseph)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

This Week in Psychedelics - 11.17.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Colorado girl suing U.S. attorney general to legalize medical marijuana nationwide (KDVR)
• Smoking marijuana shouldn't be a disqualifying factor for federal judgeship: Top senators say (The Washington Times)
• New York Adds PTSD as Qualifying Condition for Medical Cannabis (Leafly)
• Marijuana Has the Potential to Reverse Memory Loss in Old Age (ATTN:)
• Sessions Says He Is Sticking With His Predecessors' Tolerance of State-Legal Marijuana (Reason)
• We Need Your Help to Protect Patients from Jeff Sessions (NORML)
• 6 Ways to Advocate for a Pro-Cannabis Local Government (Leafly)
• The Startup Catering To Women's Curiosity About Cannabis (Forbes)
• Colorado Is Offering Students the World's First Marijuana-Funded Scholarship (ATTN:)
• Maryland May See Medical Cannabis This Month, but Diversity Issues Loom Large (Leafly)
• Delay Makes It Unlikely San Francisco Will Sell Pot Jan. 1 (U.S. News & World Report)
• Buffalo/Western New York: Blacks Disproportionately Arrested For Minor Marijuana Offenses (NORML)
• Massachusetts to Hire a Cannabis Inspector (Seven Days)
• Women Who Weed (NORML)
• California releases cannabis regulations, with no limit on farm size (The Press Democrat)
• How Veterans Are Leading the Fight for Cannabis Reform (Leafly)
• Brilliant Cannabis Commercial Parodies Ridiculous Pharma Ads (Psychedelic Frontier)
• Master Blasters: Hash-Off Announces Denver's Top Cannabis Concentrates (Westword)
• Cannabis Crunch – 12-Year-Old Girl Sues Sessions, Billion Dollar Urine Screens And Weed Election Results (Psychedelic Times)
• Quebec's Cannabis Regulations: 8 Takeaways (Leafly)
• Cannabis-Infused Fine-Dining Pop-Up to Bring Fancy Edibles to Chicago (Eater)
• 5 Reddit Communities for Cannabis Enthusiasts (Leafly)
• Connecticut: NORML Affiliate To Co-Host Gubernatorial Debate (NORML)
• Can medical cannabis decrease Ark. opioid deaths? (EMS1.com)
• City To Miss Legalization Deadline After Supervisors Postpone Cannabis Vote (Hoodline)
• Hero dogs save family from house fire 'that started in neighbour's cannabis factory' (Metro)

LSD

• Happy 79th Birthday, LSD! (Inverse)
• Children of Drug Cult Spill the Beans (Laguna Beach Independent Newspaper)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Magic Mushrooms Take Critical Step Towards Legalization in California (Your EDM)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Is MDMA a curse or a cure? (The Weed Blog)
• Ecstasy use on the rise in south Flintshire, say police (The Leader)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Psychedelic Drink Used By Shamans May Help Treat Mental Illness (Gears of Biz)
• Ayahuasca and Avocados: A Conversation with Rita Kočárová (Psychedelic Times)
• Orlando church battles to use hallucinogenic tea (Click Orlando)
• Well-being, problematic alcohol consumption and acute subjective drug effects in past-year ayahuasca users: a large, international, self-selecting online survey (The University of Queensland)
• Psychedelic drug known as Vine of the Dead could treat depression says Devon research (Devon Live)
• Tourists Are Flocking To South America To Take THIS Drug And Cure Diseases (The Alternative Daily)
• Los Angeles Wook Smuggles DMT in Container Labeled "Nana's Ashes" (Noiseporn)
• A Spiritual Hand Prepares to Establish a New Ayahuasca Kitchen (Digital Journal)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• The Legend of Zombie Drugs Will Not Die (Reason)

Dissociatives

• New Ketamine Research Points to Wide-Ranging Therapeutic Potential (Psychedelic Times)
• Steve Levine, MD: Ketamine's Role in Solving the Opioid Crisis (MD Magazine)
• Use of ketamine for acute suicidal ideation in a patient with chronic pain on prescribed cannabinoids (BMJ Case Reports)

Opiates/Opioids

• FDA clears nerve stimulator to aid recovery from opioids (The Washington Post)
• The Deadly Designer Opioids (HuffPost)
• America Is Losing Yet Another Drug War—in Afghanistan (The Nation)
• The State: The Opioid Epidemic (Psymposia)
• Reversing opioid overdose: Concentrated naloxone nasal spray as good as injection (Medical Xpress)
• Why West Virginia's Heroin Overdose Rate Doubled After it Mandated Doctors Use the State Drug-Monitoring Database (Pacific Standard)
• The Opioid Crisis Is So Bad People Are Using the Anti-Diarrhea Drug Imodium to Get High (ATTN:)
• Fentanyl Crisis and Naloxone Supply - Omega Laboratories spares no effort to meet demand (Markets Insider)

Kratom

• The Federal Government Is Trying to Ban Kratom (Again) (Reason)
• Is Breastfeeding Possible With Kratom? (Kratom Guides)
• NY Post Spreads DEA Disinformation Regarding Kratom (Inquisitr)
• Supplement to 'cure' heroin addiction could be addicting too (New York Post)
• FDA Warns Of Risks Associated With 'Natural' Opioid Kratom (NPR)

Khat

• Ethiopian Government now links Somali-Oromo region ethnic conflict to Khat trade (Borkena)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Jeff Sessions Used His Scheduling Powers Last Week. Here's What That Means (Reason)
• You Won't Believe Which Middle East Theocrat Has Okayed Psychedelics Treatment (Drug War Chronicle)
• Bad Trip Vs. Hard Trip (Adventures Through The Mind)
• Microdosing Reportedly Safer Than Antidepressants (Noiseporn)
• Naked Suspects In Alberta Kidnapping Drank Hallucinogenic Tea, Relative Says (HuffPost)
• How festival pill testing works in the UK, and what it finds in the drugs (ABC)
• Detroit Cops Posing As Drug Dealers Brawl With Colleagues Posing As Customers (Reason)
• Villagers in Nepal Risk their Lives for Psychedelic Honey (Addiction Now)
• Psychedelic drugs may be making a comeback (WSMV)
• President Trump Praises Philippines' Duterte – and Says Nothing About Thousands Killed in Drug Crackdown (TIME)
• Cocaine Tourism in Columbia (Psymposia)
• LAPD Officers Unwittingly Film Themselves Putting Cocaine In A Suspect's Wallet (Digg)
• My Drug-Induced Psychosis Experience | My First Spiritual Journey (Adventures Through The Mind)
• The 'Psychedelic Club' at CU Boulder (FOX31 Denver)
• The Therapeutic Potential of Marijuana and Psychedelics (The American Journal of Managed Care)
• Rose McGowan Arraigned on Felony Cocaine Charges (TIME)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 7.17.15

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Note: This week's edition of This Week in Psychedelics includes some "makeup" links to articles that were published toward the end of last week. This is because I was on vacation during that time, and wanted to present the links, albeit one week late.

Cannabis

• Teenagers using less marijuana in age of legalization (Philly)
• Italy takes step toward legalizing pot (Politico)
• How medical marijuana could literally save lives (Washington Post)
• Man Cures Colon Cancer With Cannabis Oil (Reset.me)
• Church of Cannabis suit raises religious liberty issues (The Indianapolis Star)
• The New Green Building Trend is Bricks of Cannabis. Really. (Time)
• Sexxpot: Low THC Strain is Natural Viagra for Women (The Stoners Cookbook)
• Cannabis treatment teen Alex Renton 'sparked national debate' (Nelson Mail)
• Cannabis oil offers local mom, son, a new life (Gainesville Times)
• Cannabis Found To Heal Broken Bones, But Schedule 1 Status Makes Further Research Into Medical Marijuana Difficult (Medical Daily)
• The World's Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary vs. One Rogue Prosecutor (Reason)
• On 'The Marijuana Show' It's Cannabis Companies Meet 'Shark Tank' With $10 Million At Stake (Forbes)
• Cannabis is Now a Full-Fledged Industry (Wall Street Daily)
• Legislator who pushed medical marijuana bill hired by cannabis firm (Star Tribune)
• Canadian company is developing a 'breathalyzer' for pot (Engadget)
• Cannabis conference hosted in Tampa Saturday (My Fox Tampa Bay)
• Cannabis picnic move to Portsmouth family event branded 'socially irresponsible' (Portsmouth.co.uk)

LSD

• Everyone is talking about medical marijuana, but what about LSD? (The Daily Texan)
• For Some, Tiny LSD Hits Are Like Cup Of Coffee (Newser)
• Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience (Pop Matters)
• Court documents: Teens took LSD before drowning (WISHTV)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Watch: Psilocybin Helps Terminal Cancer Patients Find New Ways Of Coping (Reset.me)
• Who Needs Google's Dreaming Robot? Just Eat Some Shrooms Instead (Gizmodo)

MDMA

• Could ecstasy be a potential treatment for PTSD? (Maclean's)
• Experts in Australia are calling for MDMA legalization (Dancing Astronaut)
• Utilizing MDMA to treat Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder (RYOT)
• Party drug 'molly' blamed for death of Colorado Springs teen (KDVR)
• Director Of Poison Center Warns Against Drug Molly, Causes 'Total Body Breakdown' (CBS Denver)
• Molly will mess up your brain (WALB)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Meet the Man Trying to Use Ayahuasca to Treat PTSD (attn:)
• I've found a drug so amazing I'm quitting NYC and sex to do it full time (New York Post)

Iboga

• Old Age, New Age, and the Age to come... From religious fervour to an addict's saviour, iBogaine Thailand charts the uses of iBoga and iBogaine (iBogaine Thailand)

Peyote/Mescaline

• No links this week

Salvia Divinorum

• Hallucinogenic salvia set to be banned in Canada (Global News)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Spike Nation: Cheap, unpredictable and hard to regulate, synthetic marijuana has emergency responders scrambling to save lives (NY Times)
• Lawmakers take aim at designer drugs (WRAL)

Dissociatives

• The Ketamine Connection (BBC)
• Aura Medical Corporation: Clinics offering ketamine injections to treat depression blame negative publicity for closures (ABC)
• Patient death after ketamine overdose spurs changes at UVMMC (VT Digger)

Opiates

• US Reports Surge In Heroin Use: Bumper Opium Crop In Afghanistan To Spurt Supply (International Business Times)
• Heroin Use Surges, Especially Among Women And Whites (NPR)
• Heroin use skyrockets, especially among young white men (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Researchers discover how opium poppies synthesize morphine (EurekAlert!)
• For Families Of Heroin Addicts, Comfort Comes In Sharing Their Stories (NPR)
• More deadly doses of heroin laced with fentanyl flood drug market (Capital Gazette)
• A war against opium (The Hindu)
• Obituaries Shed Euphemisms to Chronicle Toll of Heroin (NY Times)
• New CDC Report Shows Large Spikes In Heroin Abuse And Deaths (Huffington Post)
• N.J. heroin overdose death rate is triple the soaring U.S. rate (NJ.com)
• Officials warn of new flesh-eating form of heroin (WTAE)
• Heroin Deaths Jump In Connecticut; Push Past 300 In 2014 (Hartford Courant)
• Sister raises awareness at vigil for twin who died of heroin (York Daily Record)
• Investigators Warn New Additive to Heroin is Lethal (WBAY)
• Sarasota seeing sharp spike in heroin overdoses (WFLA)

General Psychedelics

• Is the ban on psychedelic drugs an infringement of human rights? (Tyler Daniel Black's Blog)
• How Ecstasy, Aspirin, and LSD Look Under the Microscope (Wired)
• 'Smiles': the history of the 2C designer drug class (The Verge)
• The Bunk Police Are Risking Prison to Bring Drug Testing Kits to Music Festivals (Thump)
• Abstinence-only drug education kills young people (The Branding Iron)
• "Trust" in Therapeutic Relationship Key to Moderating Psychedelic Risks (Mad in America)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.